The Third Anniversary
by N.kirby
Summary: It's the third anniversary for PlayStation All-Stars… A whole day has went by, and it's already midnight, but almost no one shows up, as Toro Inoue is left alone with a select few.


**((The last PSAS fic I'll probably ever make, unless I go back and remake an older one… Since the third anniversary came and went so fast, I wrote this a day late since i was more focused on other things for a while. Whoops!**

 **It's a one-shot, no second parts or anything. Apologies for it being short and perhaps not what people wanted. Please, enjoy.))**

* * *

 _ **…**_

It had been a whole day. No one showed up it seemed.

Toro spent a week preparing… So, where was everyone?

…

 _No._ He already knew the answer.

Polygon Man was working somewhere else.

Nariko and Cole went back to "rest in peace".

Sly had a movie to work on.

Nathan Drake, Kratos, Kat, Fat Princess, Ratchet and Clank had games coming out.

Raiden had moved on entirely.

Isaac Clarke was… Still getting over some griefs.

Emmett lost interest along with Heihachi.

Radec had went on a "journey" in a way, with one of the earliest new challengers…

Zeus of course had to care for Olympus and stop Kratos from messing with his world. But the rest seem to have just vanished entirely.

Even the original new challengers had left. Pupuru and Kuu were with Radec obviously, Neptune was married, Dart got fed up, Abe became bored… Everyone else had better things to do. Things to rule over, games to be in, missions to accomplish.

Now, Toro wasn't alone by any means. Kuro was with him like always, in hopes of seeing the "cute girls" again. But also Sackboy was there, since he was never so busy that he couldn't be with his friends. The same applied to the Sackgirl of course… Oh, and there was Donte, of course. His creators didn't want him back and retconned his existence, like a lot of failed reboots. So, they were stuck with him.

Still…

Toro felt like crying right now. They really had fallen apart over the past year. What started out so strong, such competition, such movements!… It came crashing down. Between the "Eighth Gen Console Wars" and other various incidents, they became irrelevant when their competitors stepped their games up quite literally by taking the chances they didn't.

And it seemed the ones in charge didn't care anymore about the PlayStation All-Stars either.

"This is such a waste of time. You want me to put this cake in the fridge? On the plus side, that Fat Princess won't come after it this time." Donte cut a piece for himself, before taking the rest of it. Toro didn't answer, in which he stored the dessert anyway while eating a slice. "It's already midnight, the third anniversary is over! Go to bed, or something… I'm personally not, I'm gonna watch TV."

As Donte exited along with Kuro, Sackboy patted Toro's back. He didn't want the small, white cat to give up just yet. There had to be something they could do about this!… In which, Toro just stared out the window, putting his paws together and closing his eyes.

In the night sky, burning far more brightly than the others was a star. It was getting ready to take off it seemed. "Shooting star… Please, grant me just this one wish." He mew'd. "I just want someone to remember, and come by. It doesn't have to be everyone. But I don't want to lose all hope…"

With that, it shot across the sky…

Everything went quiet again. Slowly, flurries began falling when the star was no longer in sight. "Well… At least the snow will look nice and pretty." With a sigh, Toro hopped away from the window with Sackboy. There was no use in more moping, so–

The door slammed open.

"Who's ready to _PAAAAARTAY?!_ " Daxter looked around him, only seeing Toro and Sackboy. Jak carefully came from behind Daxter, both of them puzzled. "Where is everybody?! Wow, were we that late?"

Toro rubbed the side of his head. "Most of them… Didn't come. The whole day."

"Seriously?" Jak raised a brow. "That, uh, really sucks. But… Even though it's just us, you don't mind the company, right?"

Lighting up, the cat smiled. "Not at all! I'm glad to see someone remembered!"

"Who said their the only ones who remembered the anniversary?" A voice bellowed, letting out an evil laugh. " _Heeeere's Sweet Tooth!_ Honestly, I was bored out of my mind, just driving around blowing things up… Gets old after a while! Thought I'd check in. Too bad cupcake isn't around though."

"PaRappa's in the hoooouuuse!" Following the large, killer clown was PaRappa of course, along with a familiar child with spiky hair. "And Spike too!" All of them glanced at Donte, who was eating cake while laying on the couch.

Spike grinned. "On the bright side Toro, Donte didn't forget it looks like–"

"The name is _Dante!_ I can hear you, twerp!" He snapped, continuing to stuff his face.

"Actually, he's been here for a few months… I think he's permanently staying." Toro replied sheepishly. "Still though, I'm so happy! You guys remembered!" He ran up to the ones who arrived and hugged them. Sackboy and Sackgirl did the same, clearly missing everyone there.

Jak then grumbled a little. "Really I think some of us being here is more due to our lack of current activity, so we actually have the time to show."

" _Bah!_ I wouldn't not show even if another Twisted Metal contest was going on!" Sweet Tooth cackled, giving Sackboy a noogie. "Though, if that's the case, then I think I know which 'PS1 era' character is gonna stumble into here in three… two… one–"

Tripping from the front of the door and clanking around, Sir Daniel Fortesque arrived with a gift in-and. "Greetings, everyone!… Goodness, it's quiet here! Is it because I'm late?" He then placed the bag onto the table. "I apologize, I was discussing something with that nice therapy lady. Death said I should speak with her, because she comes up with rather interesting idea that she can 'make reality'? Does not exactly make sense, but…" It was a while since anyone had heard from Daniel, much less hear him talk, the majority forgot about how they managed to make out his jawless speech.

"No need to worry Dan! We all got here late! At least you took the nice time out of your schedule and, uh… Restin' in peace, right? All of that put aside to come here!" PaRappa cheered.

Maybe now was a good time to start discussion. Though, Toro had no idea what to talk about really. No one really was leading everything too interesting, besides what Sir Daniel had just mentioned. PaRappa and Spike were always so outgoing though, despite lacking in activity as of now, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask them if anything had happened.

Toro softly mew'd. "Spike, how's everything going with your cousin? Also, Specter?"

"Jimmy has been maturing a lot more lately! He's becoming more like me, I think!… Just needs to stop being a klutz at times." He grinned, sitting down on a wooden chair. "Specter, uh… He's still not happy about what happened months ago. He can't take rejection well, even though it wouldn't have worked. Despite that, he hasn't done anything bad!"

A loud groaning sound entered the room, along with the giggle of a small girl. "Look Mr. Bubbles! It's Spike! And Sackboy!" The zombified girl ran over to the burlap sack and lifted him up for a hug. "I've missed you oh-so-much! What about you Mr. B?" The lights on his helmet lit up to a green color, signifying happiness or satisfaction with the moment at hand.

"Oh! I was wondering about Big Daddy!" Toro then bowed politely. "It's been a long time… Are you, um… 'Inactive' too?" It was hard to put it nicely, but somehow Big Daddy understood what he meant by that. A bellow came from him, which most likely translated as "yes".

Daxter leaned against the wall, taking a fruit out from a bowl and munching on it. "I'm guessing you all heard about Cloud getting in Smash, huh?"

Indeed, that was… A thing that happened. Previously, some of the All-Stars– Mainly the newer challengers mocked the idea of "Squeenix" characters being involved due to hefty amounts of paperwork and copyright that would have to be approved. But somehow, their rivals managed to get ahold of someone who was known to be a PlayStation exclusive… Especially with that remake coming out.

Though it was easy to see how he got into the other game. Especially since they got Ryu from Street Fighter not to long ago before that. Both characters were going to appear on PS4 titles, but somehow wormed their way onto a Nintendo game due to some past and current experiences.

"I never really got to know him that well really." Sir Daniel poured himself a cup of hot chocolate, forgetting he has no jaw– or digestive track at all for that matter, and spilling it on his armor. "Not really a giant loss, is it?"

"The fans and haters are complainin' like always though at us and at our competition. Honestly, they need to chill out." Sweet Tooth partly chuckled at Daniel's slight misfortune. It's been a long time since he had done a mistake like that, it felt really nice to see that again.

Since Donte had left it there, Toro quickly took the whole cake out of the fridge before it got too cold and difficult to eat. "W-would some of you like some?… There's plenty for everyone, since… I made more than I should have."

For once, Sweet Tooth couldn't help but feel bad for someone. He normally laughed at the misery of others, but… It was Toro. He was just too kind and innocent for his own good. "I always am!"

"Same here!" Daxter agreed.

"Yeah!… Speaking of, uh, do you mind if we stay here for the night? A snowstorm is supposed to blow over until the afternoon." PaRappa asked. Toro was more than willing to agree of course. He may have not gotten the whole gang to come over, but instead he got some All-Stars to sleepover with him, Sackboy, and the other three.

It was a wish upon a star coming true. "Say, while we're here and still awake… Daniel, do you want to tell us about that thing you were talking about? I'm kinda interested." Jak wondered.

"Really? I just hope I don't bore you!… But, if you say so." With that, they all sat down around the table, eating and keeping warm as they listened– mainly in hopes of understand Daniel to begin with. "That woman was thinking of writing a story about my older adventures, but 'changed around' or 'revamped'? She said, that it would go like this…"

What started off to be a hopeless, third anniversary turned around into a small, fun event.

The size of the grouping didn't matter to Toro. Just that it was heartfelt, and everyone was enjoying themselves…

 _That's what being part of the PlayStation All-Stars was about anyway. Fun._


End file.
